News & Events: Pancreatic Cancer

While researchers race to find improved medical therapies for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), surgery remains the most effective treatment.  Unfortunately, a large percentage of PDAC patients are not surgical candidates because by the time of diagnosis, the disease has metastasized. Even among those without metastases, choosing surgery can be tricky if there is too much risk of leaving live tumor behind.  Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Cancer (BRPC) Recently, however, cancer treatment teams have been extending surgery options to more patients previously considered "borderline [...]

For now, the only possible route to outliving pancreas cancer is complete removal of the tumor via surgery. Surgery for pancreas cancer is long and demanding, and surgeons must be practiced to consistently perform it well. Pancreas cancer surgery outcomes are better at high-volume, major medical centers such as UCSF, where surgeons can specialize - perfecting and maintaining skills and deepening their experience and judgment. UCSF surgeons Kimberly Kirkwood, M.D., and Eric Nakakura, M.D., Ph.D., remove a large number of pancreas tumors each year. They generally achieve excellent outcomes for [...]